


Something Different

by sorteparaplyer



Series: Weight Gain [4]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Chubby Klaus Hargreeves, Gen, Weight Gain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 21:39:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19093648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorteparaplyer/pseuds/sorteparaplyer
Summary: Klaus finds that things are changing, and maybe he can roll with that





	Something Different

Klaus holds the skirt up to himself in the mirror and assesses his reflection. “Ugh,” he groans, throwing his head back dramatically. “I was really hoping this one would still fit.” He heaves a long-suffering sigh. “What a _truly_ tragic loss.” Then he tosses the skirt, a silky purple number, onto the pile of clothes atop his bed. 

There are more clothes in the pile than there are hanging up in the closet. And most of what’s hanging up is the clothing he still has to go through. Anxiety begins to bubble up in his stomach at the sight of the bare closet rod. It feels too much like the times in his life when all he had were the clothes on his back. When he’d take whatever he could get from unwatched clotheslines and lost-and-found boxes.

“Go shopping, Klaus. You love clothes. Go pick out some new ones.”

Oh. Klaus _does_ have money now, doesn’t he? Not a lot, but some. Enough to buy some things to fit his wider waist. It’s kind of amazing how quickly money stacks up when he doesn’t have a habit to blow it on. 

Still, it’s not really as easy as Ben makes it sound. Klaus turns around to look at him, sprawled in a swivel chair in the corner. “You know,” Klaus says mildly, “now that you’re back from the dead you don’t have to shadow me constantly.”

“I know,” Ben shrugs. “Old habits, I guess.”

“They do die hard.” Klaus turns back to the mirror, pouts at his reflection. “I just don’t know how to dress myself anymore. Not with this belly.” He turns sideways and pushes his stomach out, exaggerating the curve of his pooch. “Nothing lays right on me. Everything hits at the wrong point.”

“So go shopping!”

“It’s just a little embarrassing, yeah?” Klaus makes a face. “People are gonna look at me differently now that I’m… _chubby_.

Ben rolls his eyes. “Since when do you care what people think?”

“Since I had to develop a personality that was more than being a junkie.”

“You didn’t have a personality while you were in the past?”

“I was a soldier. It was different.”

“You mean that was before you had access to all the homemade cherry pie you could eat.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. But you’re not wrong about Mom’s pies. They’re _soooooooo_ gooood.” He throws a hand over his belly, miming the satisfaction of having a stomach full of pie. The flesh wobbles beneath his palm as he pats himself. 

With just the two of them in the room Klaus doesn’t mind letting his eyes linger over the sight in the mirror. He takes in his body, the swell of his gut, the slight bulge of love handles. It’s not that his belly isn’t cute, it’s just that it isn’t really on-brand for him. He doesn’t recognize it as himself. He’s always been willowy and slight. Not curvy and… jiggly.

“You know, I think the weight looks great on you,” Ben says, as if he can read Klaus’ mind. “You look healthier than you have since you were a teenager.” He lets his eyes rake over Klaus’ frame. “And seriously, no one’s gonna give you a second glance.”

Klaus doesn’t have time to unpack the way Ben is looking at him, the way he feels himself preening at Ben’s almost-praise. “Oh,” he says instead, affecting an air of indignity. “Because that’s always been my sartorial goal, _Ben_ , to blend in? Some nerve you have, telling me people won’t look twice at me like it's a good thing.”

Ben sighs. “Is there a way I can win with you right now?”

“You can never win, Ben.” Klaus blows him a kiss and turns back to his reflection. “Guess I just have to go on a diet,” he says.

“No, you don’t. All you have to do is relearn how to dress your body now that it’s a little different from what you’re used to.”

“That's beautiful, Ben. When did you become such a beacon of body positivity?”

“Being incorporeal probably had something to do with it.”

“You really think I should just keep rolling with this?” Klaus clutches his belly in his hands, lifts his bulk for Ben to see. “I should just be fat now?”

Ben swallows, nods. “Yeah,” he says thickly. “Yeah, why not?”

Klaus raises a shoulder in a shrug. _Why not?_ has always been logic he’s found impossible to refute. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that he doesn’t look like the person he used to be. Maybe it’s better to move on, to embrace something different. 

Dave had told him about as much, once the dust had settled and Klaus was finally able to conjure him. Not the part about moving on, because Dave understood that Klaus wasn’t in a place to do that yet. More that it was okay for Klaus to embrace other things if he wanted to, if he felt ready. He could embrace _new_ things if he wanted to. Dave had meant people, but he’d avoided saying it that way. Which had made it impossible for Klaus to argue the point. 

“You want to come shopping with me?” Klaus asks.

The corner of Ben’s mouth turns up. “Not unless you need my help picking out black hoodies. Take Allison instead, I bet she’d love that.”

“You are eternally wise.”

“Show me your haul when you get back, though.”

Klaus levels Ben with a playful, salacious smirk. “You wanna see this chunky bod in some tight mesh, don't you?” 

Ben shrugs, his nonchalance just a little too studied. “If you’re showing it off.”


End file.
